Devils' Kovalchuk Retires From NHL

New Jersey's Star Forward Is Leaving to Return to Native Russia

On the January day that he returned to the Devils after spending the NHL lockout playing in Russia, Ilya Kovalchuk apparently had already begun counting the days until he could go home again.

A star forward over his 11 seasons in the NHL, Kovalchuk made what to most hockey observers was a startling announcement Thursday: He had retired from the league at age 30, saying in a statement that he has been thinking "for a long...